


Transcendence

by phenomenology



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, she's going to be relatively okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 04:51:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7029334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phenomenology/pseuds/phenomenology
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As for Anakin Skywalker's former apprentice, she perished in the explosion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Transcendence

**Author's Note:**

> Based off of raikoh's post on tumblr about what happened to Ahsoka Tano at the end of Twilight of the Apprentice

The smoke from the explosion still billowed into the sky as a lone, looming figure limped at an agonizing pace, making their way out of the wreckage. The blast had obliterated the structure that was the Sith’s super weapon, leaving nothing of any value or use. It was a miracle it left _him_ alive.

As for Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice, she perished in the explosion.

His modulator hissed and wheezed from the damage her blade inflicted, and the debris and rubble further impaired the device. Darth Vader dragged and heaved his ailing limbs across the slick, obsidian surface of Malachor. Each agonizing step pulled a wheezing, mechanical breath from the ruined modulator. His tattered cape tangled haphazardly around his ankles as he limped onward. Once he cleared the expansive cloud of smoke, Vader paused for a brief reprieve. Clutched in his firm grasp, was Ahsoka Tano’s discarded brow ornament.

Without his permission, Vader’s thoughts turned back to the first moments after the blast had settled. He thought the apprentice’s voice called to him again, calling out for her old Master.

_Anakin?  
_

_Vader’s exposed human eye lifted with slow intent, peering into the hazy gloom of Malachor’s underbelly. There was the faintest silhouette of the powerful Togruta, just in front of him. Surrounded and outlined in a pure light, she stood above him, watching his movements. The shadows cast over her from the light shrouded her face. Vader struggled to make out any identifying features, but it was Tano. He still had his orders; he still had to end this. She hindered the Emperor’s plans for the galaxy for far too long._

_With great effort, Vader somehow hauled himself to his feet, pain and agony lanced through his limbs like an arc of lightning. But Vader had grown used to the chronic pain years ago and now channeled it to his advantage. The enemy stood before him and he had to complete his task._

_Shoving down the agony of every movement, Vader extended a hand, as if to strike Ahsoka Tano with the Force. Vader summoned the strength he would need and leveled his eyes with her face. But as he tried to focus through the pain and the encompassing rage roiling within him, something strange happened to Tano._

_Ahsoka Tano, her face still shrouded in shadow, faded to a transparent film, as if she were dissolving before him. Within moments, she had vanished, leaving only a few remains. Vader’s eyes widened with disbelief, before he trudged toward the little pile. His steps were heavy, echoing throughout the cavernous underworld. The red blade hissed as he sheathed it, the low hum and faint glow fading, leaving Vader with only the pinpricks of light from above in the cracked ceiling._

_His massive frame towered over the little pile, and Vader did not know how to describe the sensation that rushed over him. It was confusing, and he preferred to ignore it than to dwell. But the twin lightsabers looked dull and devoid of life as they sat discarded among the debris. And the third object provided Vader with the most conflict of all._

_With great effort, Vader stooped, scooping a discarded crown-like object from the dirty floor. The object sparked recognition – and dare he thinks it – nostalgia of a time lost to the memories of Anakin Skywalker. With violent force, he repressed the emotions. Vader’s grip on the band tightened as he turned his face to the ceiling._

_“It’s over.”  
_

Vader, standing now above the ruined underworld of Malachor, allowed his gloved, human hand to hover with hesitance over the achingly familiar headdress of Anakin Skywalker’s apprentice. There was a breath of a moment when he considered holding the object to his chest – or to the machine that now sat there – and mourning the loss of Ahsoka Tano.

But she was not Vader’s to mourn. She was an enemy of his Master, a mission now completed. She was a rebel and a traitor to the Republic. Ahsoka Tano was a criminal.

And now she was gone.

With his breaths still wheezing and hitching upon every step, Vader continued to drag along his weary body. He had to find a way back to Coruscant, or at least to the nearest Star Destroyer, so he could report to his Master and get medical attention.

Vader was certain that his Master would be most pleased with the news he bore of Ahsoka Tano’s fate. 

* * *

She did not remember regaining consciousness.

There had been that heart wrenching moment when she thought that her old Master had at last broken free of the all-consuming darkness. But her hopes had been dashed aside with sudden despair when he locked his sickening, yellow eye on her face.

She was now certain that nothing of Anakin Skywalker existed inside that suit. But she had refused to abandon him again. And the last thing that Ahsoka Tano remembered was dying.

So she found herself immensely confused as she now stood in front of a struggling Vader. Watching as he locked onto her with malice in his gaze, Ahsoka tensed, only to freeze as he walked right through her. With no idea of what was going on, she turned and watched as Vader’s hulking figure stood over her lightsabers and old headpiece.

Ahsoka wasn’t sure if it was more painful for her or for Vader as she watched him pick up the battered piece of jewelry. There was an immense desperation inside her chest, begging to call out to him, to bring him back to her side in the Light. But she well knew that whatever plane she now existed in, was not one that Vader might comprehend.

Leaning her weight against a large piece of upright debris, Ahsoka pressed a hand to her forehead, trying to ignore the light tremors that worked their way through her limbs. She would _not_ fall apart. Not now.

“This is it then,” she said with a quake in her voice. Ahsoka spoke to no one in particular. But it made her feel better, made her seem a little less alone. Perhaps she could just imagine herself speaking to the Force, to everyone she had lost. Maybe she would be able to reach them now she was close to joining them again. That thought gave her little comfort.

“The end of my life… and soon, I’ll just vanish completely from this world. I’ll become just another fragment of the Force itself.” Ahsoka tried to picture the faces of her friends, her mentors. In her mind’s eyes, she could see them, smiling with reassurance, but with sadness as they waited for her.

“Not exactly, Ahsoka Tano,” another voice cut through her brief meditation. It was warm, light, and desperately familiar to Ahsoka. She whirled around, looking for the source of the voice.

_That voice!_ Ahsoka thought with mild trepidation, trying frantically to place it in her memories. But everything was becoming hazy as if she were about to fade away at any moment. As she scrounged for details, a face, a name, anything, Ahsoka continued to search for the source.

_I’ve heard that voice before. In my dreams and… also back on-_ Ahsoka turned with a sharp movement at a gentle hooting noise from behind and above her.

_Mortis!_ Ahsoka gasped as the recognition spark within her, pulling memories forward of a long ago mission with Master Kenobi and Master Skywalker.

Above her, the source of the hooting – and she presumed the voice – Ahsoka found a Convoree perched upon an arbitrarily large piece of rubble. It gazed down at her with calm eyes from its dangerous roost. She found this odd as there was no life on Malachor, but she moved on from that with brisk intention of getting to the point. The rock balanced with precarious support against another crumbling piece of debris. But the creature seemed unbothered by this. It continued to watch her from above with large, intelligent and luminescent eyes.

The Convoree was beautiful, its face framed by soft green feathers that stuck out from its head and gave the creature a regal appearance. And Ahsoka swore that its little body emitted a soft glow as the voice spoke in her head again. She recognized it now, the voice of the Daughter.

“Dear child, you are not dead,” the Daughter said. “But, you are not among the living either.”

“What?” Confusion flooded Ahsoka’s mind as she stared quizzically at the Convoree. It scared her to hear the Daughter say that Ahsoka was dead. But then again, it didn’t seem possible, as she stood here before this creature.

“That doesn’t make any sense!” she protested, brow furrowing as she tried to work out what the Daughter had meant. She looked down at her hands and curled her fingers into fists. “How can I not be alive, but also no dead? What does that make me, then?”

“No, Ahsoka,” the Daughter said as the Convoree hooted in a gentle tone. Her voice provided a comfort among the silence of Malachor, even if she wasn’t making any sense. “Your body and spirit are still together,” the Daughter continued as the Convoree ruffled it wing feathers. “However, you are now in a plane of existence that is beyond life and death. You and I have a bond from Mortis. And now that bond is helping you take your first steps.”

More confused than ever, Ahsoka raised her eyes to the Convoree. The creature still retained its perch in the exact spot as before, watching her with those intelligent, glowing eyes.

“First steps?” she murmured. As she raised her voice a little to be heard with clarity, Ahsoka asked the Convoree, “First steps to what?”

The eyes of the Convoree shone even brighter, the irises of the creature taking on a depth that seemed far beyond impossible. If Ahsoka had been any closer to the creature, she guessed that staring into its eyes would have shown her the entire galaxy. Before she had the chance to pose her question again, the Daughter’s voice spoke, this time sounding as if she were surrounding Ahsoka.

“Transcendence,” the Daughter’s voice reverberated throughout the caverns.

Ahsoka gasped as a surge of something powerful rushed over her skin, making her left hand twitch and clench. Her hand lifted from her side so she could examine it. Ahsoka hesitantly pulled the fabric away that covered her palm. Her fingers trembled as she stared at the bluish-white glow stretching little tendrils of light across her hand and towards her wrist.

A quick huff of air pushed past her lips as Ahsoka tried to steel herself before she looked up at the Daughter’s Convoree. She knew that there was no going back, that whatever reason she was here for, it must be important.

“What do I need to do first?” Ahsoka said, hoping that her voice wasn’t trembling as much as she thought it was.

If Ahsoka didn’t know any better, she could have sworn that the Convoree smiled at her. It ruffled its feathers again and flapped its wings, becoming encased in a sudden light before vanishing. Ahsoka stared at the place it had been, wondering what she should to do next.

She was about to give up and just wander around when a sudden warm glow encased her body. The sudden pulse of power that rushed through Ahsoka’s limbs made her gasp. When the glow faded, Ahsoka felt as if an expansive well of knowledge had just poured into her. And while she could not access all of it at the moment, she knew it was there in the pressure just behind her eyes. The burden handled like a dam about to burst past its confines and overwhelm her.

_You sought knowledge here on Malachor, did you not?_ The Daughter’s voice now spoke from within Ahsoka’s head, making her wince. She didn’t bother answering aloud, knowing somehow that their consciences had merged. 

_If you go back to the temple,_ the Daughter’s voice instructed with a calm cadence. _And delve even deeper, you will find the knowledge. The real knowledge that will help you understand your new meaning in the universe, it lies within the deepest archives of this temple._

Turning, Ahsoka picked her way through the rubble, heading back down to the ground and leaving the site of what had been the weapon. She forsook caution and leapt from rubble pile to rubble pile, taking off a lot of time and making the journey down much easier than going up had been.

Once she was back down on the ground of the underworld of Malachor, Ahsoka took in her surroundings. Debris lay scattered around the large mound of rock that had held the weapon, forming a ring that stretched outward for a fair distance.

As she looked around, a subtle force seemed to tug her gaze around to find a large, triangle shaped entrance in the side of a nearby wall. It was easy to surrender to her instincts as they carried her forward. Within a few moments, Ahsoka stood staring down into the dark abyss of the cave.

_Remember,_ the Daughter’s voice warned Ahsoka. _This is not the end, but a new beginning, a new chapter. And I believe that in time, you will find the way back to your world. The Force will guide you.  
_

Ahsoka took a deep breath, letting her eyes flutter shut as she took a moment to absorb the situation. She sensed a power tingling and crawling underneath her skin, like a million tiny insects scurrying through her veins. Everything about the sensation told her of the ancient, overwhelming power she now wielded. It almost felt like the power would burn her up if she became too careless with it.

This was not how Ahsoka had pictured her day. But if she backed down now, what would happen? She could remember back on Mortis when the Daughter and Father had spoken about balance. Back then, the Clone War found itself in an uneasy stalemate, the way the Daughter and Son had been stuck in a precarious truce under the Father’s guidance. But once the Son had killed the Daughter, the Separatists and the Sith gained a sudden advantage, winning them the war.

And now Ahsoka had a chance to bring light and balance back to the Force; at the cost of her own life.

_But I will not end, I will only transcend to a higher plane. I have a new purpose,_ Ahsoka tried to convince herself.

The power she distinguished pulsing in her veins now tingled around her shoulders and neck, spreading through her veins like wildfire. Ahsoka was fairly certain that her blood was turning into literal light.

_What is your choice, Ahsoka Tano?_ The Daughter spoke again. _The power inside you will not yield to you unless you have fully accepted this burden. This responsibility does not come without a price; and if you fail to control it, it will consume you._

With hesitance that only lasted long enough to take a breath, Ahsoka opened her eyes and stared back at the abyss before her. Amazingly, her sight pierced through the dark now, showing her the steps that descended further downward until they vanished around a bend. Not knowing when this ability had taken hold, Ahsoka could only assume it was due to the rush of power pulsing through her entire being.

Her eyes glowing with ethereal light, Ahsoka spoke in a voice firm and confident to the Daughter’s presence.

“I accept.”


End file.
